1. Field
Aspects of the present invention relate generally to a thin film encapsulation structure for a flat panel display device and a method of manufacturing the thin film encapsulation structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
A flat panel display device, such as an organic light emitting display device, may be thin and flexible due to characteristics thereof, and, thus, research is being conducted into flat panel display devices, such as the organic light emitting display device.
Display units of the organic light emitting display device type may deteriorate due to penetration of oxygen or water. Thus, in order to prevent or reduce the penetration of oxygen and/or water from the outside, an encapsulation structure that encapsulates the display unit to protect the same may be provided.
To this end, a thin film encapsulation structure that has a multi-layer structure in which an organic layer and an inorganic layer may be alternately stacked to cover the display unit may be provided. That is, organic and inorganic layers may be alternately stacked on the display unit on the substrate to encapsulate the display unit. Here, the organic layer may allow for flexibility of a flat panel display device, and the inorganic layer may prevent penetration of oxygen and/or water.
To alternately stack the organic and inorganic layers, first, an organic layer may be formed by being mounted on a substrate, on which the display unit is formed, in a chamber for depositing the organic layer. The substrate may then be moved to another chamber for depositing an inorganic layer to form the inorganic layer. Operations of moving and mounting the substrate, and depositing layers may then be repeated. While the order of forming organic and inorganic layers may be modified, since the substrate is moved from or to the chambers for depositing an organic layer and an inorganic layer, the manufacturing process may be considerably burdensome and complicated.
To address the above phenomenon, a thin film encapsulation structure may be formed using only an inorganic layer. However, in this case, this thin film encapsulation film may not be flexible and have high fragility, and even when a small particle is mixed thereinto, stress around the particle may be concentrated and create cracks.
Accordingly, a method of reducing the risk of cracks occurring and simplifying the manufacturing process is required.